Mice and Rodent Control MN | MN Mice, Mouse Rodent Control
Mice and rodents can be cute in cartoons and movies, but not so much when they find their way into your home! Your house, especially your kitchen provides all that a mouse could possibly ask for. Most experts in mice and rodent control, say the best way to keep mice out of your house is, well… to keep them out in the first place. In other words, any opening larger than, say, a pencil, should be sealed.
There are more than 2,000 species, or kinds, of rodents. The rodent family consists of not only rats and mice but also beavers, squirrels, prairie dogs, woodchucks, and chipmunks. Gophers and porcupines are rodents, too.
By the way, the rodent family does not include rabbits; because rabbits have an extra pair of incisors and in other skeletal features. Rabbits, hares, and a few other species make up the Lagomorpha. The Lagomorpha members are commonly called Lapines.
Shrews, moles and hedgehogs are also not rodents; they are classified in the Insectivora because they eat insects.
Also, snake populations tend to be greater in areas rife with rodents. If you’re having an ongoing problem with snakes around your home, even getting into your home, your real problem might be rodents! The primary food of many snakes, especially the larger ones, is rodents (mice, voles, rats). When a property develops a healthy population of rodents, snakes can move in as well.
Eew, Gross!
Mice and rats leave droppings and urine wherever they go. A house mouse can produce 50-100 droppings a day, while a rat can leave as many at 50!
Worse, they spread disease to humans and other animals through their bite, by transporting fleas, lice, mites and ticks, and by leaving their droppings in food and other materials that humans contact. Rodents are vectors for bubonic plague, rat bite fever, leptospirosis, hantavirus, trichinosis, infectious jaundice, rat mite dermatitis, salmonellosis, pulmonary fever, and typhus. So, properly removing any animal droppings along with sanitation is absolutely necessary.
Controlling Rodents
This short video, produced by Howard University’s CapComm Lab, the Earth Conservation Corps, and EPA, takes a humorous look at how conditions inside the home can provide food, water, and shelter where pests can thrive, and provides practical ways to prevent infestations.
Controlling rodents movie //www.epa.gov/pesticides/controlling/rodent.mov
EPA Changes the Way Homeowners Battle Rodent Infestations
New standards being implemented June 4, 2011 by the Environmental Protection Agency have affected the way consumers purchase and use over-the-counter rodent control baits to protect their homes from mice and rats.
The EPA is requiring all consumer rodenticide bait products to be sold only with bait stations. Loose bait such as pellets will be prohibited, and there will be new restrictions on the active ingredients in the bait. The new standards also affect rodenticides used by professional applicators and for agricultural purposes.
The EPA established these new standards with the goal of reducing the exposure of children and wildlife to rodenticides, while at the same time still allowing residential users, livestock producers, and professional applicators access to a variety of effective and affordable rodent control products. A range of different types of bait stations will meet the new requirements, providing flexibility in cost.
READ THE LABEL WHEN STORING PESTICIDES; IT IS THE LAW!
Rodenticides are an important part of rodent control, especially when combined with other components of Integrated Pest Management such as exclusion and sanitation. These changes will allow us to keep this valuable tool, but also keep children, pets and wildlife safe from unintended exposure.
More information about the changes, formally known as Final Risk Mitigation Decision for Ten Rodenticides, can be found on the EPA’s website at //www.epa.gov/opp00001/reregistration/rodenticides/finalriskdecision.htm
Final Risk Mitigation Decision for Ten Rodenticides
Rodenticide Safety Concerns
Rodenticides are important products for controlling mice, rats and other rodents that pose threats to public health, critical habitats, native plants and animals, crops, and food supplies. However, these products also present human and environmental safety concerns.
Exposures to Children – Rodenticides are an important tool for public health pest control, including controlling mice and rats around the home; however, the use of these products has been associated with accidental exposures to thousands of children each year. Fortunately, only a small number of exposed children experience medical symptoms or suffer adverse health effects as a result of their exposure.
The Agency believes, however, that the number of exposure incidents is unacceptably high. Further, data indicate that children in low income families are disproportionately exposed. EPA’s risk mitigation measures address this situation by significantly reducing the likelihood of rodenticide exposure to children, including those children who may be disproportionately at risk for exposure.
Risks to Wildlife – Rodenticides pose significant risks to non-target wildlife including birds, such as hawks and owls, and mammals, including raccoons, squirrels, skunks, deer, coyotes, foxes, mountain lions, and bobcats. Rodenticides applied as bait products pose risks to wildlife from primary exposure (direct consumption of rodenticide bait) and secondary exposure (predators or scavengers consuming prey with rodenticides present in body tissues). Several reported incidents have involved Federally listed threatened and endangered species, for example the San Joaquin kit fox and Northern spotted owl, in addition to the Bald eagle, which is protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Act.
EPA has developed several publications for the public to highlight the importance of reading pesticide labels and following the directions.
List of Public Health Pests (PRN 2002-1) (PDF)
Protect Your Kids brochure (PDF) (2 pp, 1.0 MB
Protect Your Pet brochure (PDF)
Protect Your Garden brochure (PDF)
Protect Your Household brochure (PDF)
Want To Get Rid Of Them?
Rodents pose a serious threat to your home as they can carry disease, cause structural damage to your home, and contaminate food. Wiring that has been gnawed on by mice have been known to start fires in homes. Some other examples are bushes, small trees, expensive flowers, and whatever else your property may contain. They also create tunnels with large mounds of dirt, throughout your yard, ruining your grass and lawn. Chewing on irrigation and septic systems, and causing erosion and damage to yards and foundations. All this damage can be extremely frustrating and expensive!
Call In The Pros
If you have done everything you can and still have rodents in your home, it is important to contact a professional. A professional exterminator can remove the mice and rodents from your Minnesota home as well repair any of the damage they may have caused. They will have the tools and techniques to rid you of these unwanted pests once and for all.
